Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Logano avoids trouble to win at N.H.

USA TODAY Sports
Published 6:10 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2014

Brad Keselowski’s Ford hits the wall during the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire on Sunday. He finished seventh.
(Photo:
Will Schneekloth/Getty Images
)

LOUDON, N.H. – Joey Logano seized the lead from Kevin Harvick on a restart with 27 laps left and won a caution-plagued Sylvania 300 that was treacherous for title contenders Sunday.

Logano was among the few Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers to avoid trouble in scoring his second victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and advancing to the second round of the Chase, joining Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski.

“I watched my first Cup race here when I was 5,” said Logano, a native of Middletown, Conn., who pocketed his fourth win of the season. “... This means so much. ... We know what we gotta do to win this thing right now.

“To me, it’s my home track. ... I went to sleep last night hoping for a top 5.”

”Track position is tough and it wound up being really hard racing there [at the end],” said Harvick. “Brad moved me out of the way. The 22 [Logano] was way early all day [on the restarts].”

Five of the 16 Chase drivers had significant problems that dropped them outside the top 20: Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin.

With a season-high 15 caution flags (the last set up a green-white-checkered finish), “The Magic Mile” became “The Miserable Mile” for several championship hopefuls as a plethora of mistakes, crashes and mechanical woes plagued Chase drivers for the second straight week – and Joe Gibbs Racing’s trio of drivers bore the brunt of it.

Hamlin took the biggest hit among title contenders. The JGR driver started fourth and led 32 laps but had to pit early under green on Lap 96 because of a mechanical problem that prevented his No. 11 Toyota from being fueled fully.

The problem escalated during a debris caution on Lap 105. Hamlin was held in the pits by a NASCAR official for unapproved repairs as his team attempted to fix the problem. He restarted the race five laps down in 41st and was involved in a crash just past the halfway mark. He finished 37th.

“We somehow couldn’t get fuel in the car, and that pretty much set the tone for the rest of our day,” Hamlin said. “Gosh, you just can’t have any mistakes in this three-race deal -- from the driver, from the crew, the team -- and unfortunately no one did, it’s just we had a mechanical failure that really hasn’t bitten us in a while.”

In order to advance to the next round, Hamlin will need a solid result at Dover International Speedway, where he has only six top 10s in 17 starts and an average finish of 19.6 (marking his second-worst oval in NASCAR’s premier series after Kentucky Speedway).

It’s the second time in three seasons that a mechanical failure has burned Hamlin during the Chase. He was ranked third in points entering Martinsville Speedway two years ago, but a faulty master switch knocked him out of contention after leading 12 laps.

While Hamlin’s Camry was being repaired in the garage, teammate Kyle Busch found trouble. JGR’s No. 18 was collected in a Lap 188 wreck that also included Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports.

JGR’s third Toyota – the No. 20 of Kenseth – crashed with Paul Menard’s No. 27 Chevy after a restart with 32 laps remaining. Kenseth, who had been running in the top five earlier, fell a lap down in 26th.

On Lap 221, Kurt Busch of Stewart-Haas Racing smacked the turn 3 wall, bringing out another caution and sending his No. 41 Chevy to the garage for major repairs.

Keselowski, who already was guaranteed advancement to the second round of NASCAR’s reformatted playoff by virtue of his victory last week at Chicagoland Speedway, started from the pole and led the first 35 laps before a NASCAR-mandated caution. He fell from first to 15th during the yellow flag on a four-tire stop as the top 14 cars took two tires.

He struggled mightily on the Lap 41 restart, falling seven spots to 22nd in the first few laps. “We’re in a hornet’s nest here, be careful,” radioed spotter Joey Meier.

He lost control of his Ford on Lap 194 while racing Kenseth for position, but he managed to rebound and take the lead again on Lap 228. He stayed in first until a restart with 32 to go when Harvick zoomed past the Team Penske duo of Keselowski and Logano to take the lead.

“We just missed it a little bit today on a few things. I don’t think I ran a perfect race either. It was a good adversity day,” Keselowski said.